Jefferson Davis[]
Jefferson Davis (born Jefferson Finis Davis; June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the first President of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1868. He was a member of the
Democratic Party who represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives prior to becoming president. He was the 23rd United States Secretary of War, serving under U.S. President Franklin Pierce from 1853 to 1857. Davis was born in Fairview, Kentucky, to a moderately prosperous farmer, and grew up on his older brother Joseph's large cotton plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana. Joseph Davis also secured his appointment to the United States Military Academy. After graduating, Jefferson Davis served six years as a lieutenant in the United States Army. He fought in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), as the colonel of a volunteer regiment. Before American Civil War, he operated a large cotton plantation in Mississippi but never owned more than 74 slaves. Although he argued against secession in 1858, he believed states had an unquestionable right to leave the Union.
Davis was the first choice for President of the Confederacy because of his strong political and military credentials. He wanted to serve as commander in chief of the Confederate armies but said he would serve wherever directed. His wife Varina Davis later wrote that when he received word that he had been chosen as president, "Reading that telegram he looked so grieved that I feared some evil had befallen our family."
Davis was born in Fairview, Kentucky, to a moderately prosperous farmer, and grew up on his older brother Joseph's large cotton plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana. Joseph Davis also secured his appointment to the United States Military Academy. After graduating, Jefferson Davis served six years as a lieutenant in the United States Army. He fought in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), as the colonel of a volunteer regiment. Before the American Civil War, he operated a large cotton plantation in Mississippi and owned as many as 74 slaves.[1] Although he argued against secession in 1858,[2] he believed that states had an unquestionable right to leave the Union.
Davis's first wife, Sarah Knox Taylor, died of malaria after three months of marriage, and he also struggled with recurring bouts of the disease.[3] He was unhealthy for much of his life. At the age of 36, Davis married again, to 18-year-old Varina Howell, a native of Natchez, Mississippi, who had been educated in Philadelphia and had some family ties in the North. They had six children. Only two survived him, and only one married and had children.